Sports & Recreation

Best Bogeyman Phoenix 2013 - Golfer Phil Mickelson

Considering that the Phoenix area is known as America's golf mecca, we've failed over the years to honor one of our own: ASU's Phil "Lefty" Mickelson, one of the great golfers of all time. His latest accomplishment was coming from five shots back to win the British Open this year. While at ASU, Mickelson stunned the golf world by winning, at 20, a PGA event as an amateur, the Northern Telecom Open in Tucson. The win allowed him to move directly into the pro circuit, bypassing the Tour's qualifying process, after he graduated ASU in 1992. Four years later, he won the Byron Nelson Golf Classic and the World Series of Golf. In 2000, he knocked Tiger Woods off his pedestal by defeating him at the Buick Invitational, ending Woods' string of six straight victories at the Southern California event. Renowned for his left-handed swing (a rarity among professional golfers and particularly unusual since he's right-handed in every other way), Mickelson won his first Masters (the grandaddy of all golf tournaments) in 2002. He won his second and third green jackets in Augusta, Georgia, in 2006 and 2010. He was PGA champion in 2005 and has come in second in the U.S. Open a record six times. He has five times more PGA wins than any other left-handed golfer; he's one of three lefties to ever win a major championship. Mickelson grew up in San Diego and Scottsdale and attended ASU on a golf scholarship. The same year he won his first pro event, Lefty led ASU to the NCAA National Championship in his sport.